Jean-Michel and Romain STEPHAN

From the vine to the bottle, Jean-Michel Stephan works his Côte-Rôtie without oxygen with, as a consequence, a bit of reduction at the opening. Decanting is therefore necessary, and you then get all the subtlety, finesse, freshness and above all this superb minerality! Here are wines that surprise by their authenticity, resembling Jean Michel!

The Winery Stephan was created from scratch in 1991. By himself. Today, Jean-Michel owns 4.5 ha in the south of the Côte-Rôtie appellation (Tupin et Semons). Jean-Michel is a free electron, truly independent. He works his wines the old-fashioned way, "à la Jules Chauvet" as he claims on his labels. Composed of several plots (of less than 1 ha) on several climates of Côte-Rôtie, the work is intense, especially since he refrains from using any chemicals in the soils and in the vines.

This means ploughing with a horse (in the lower parts), winch, pickaxe for weeding, compost. To date, theGrape varieties of Winery is composed of 30% Serine (an original variety of Syrah), 60% Syrah clônée and 10% Viognier, varying from 15 years to 115 years with 6 cuvées in total (Côte-Rôtie Bassenon, Tupin, So Brune, Les Binardes, plus Vins de Pays.

In vinification, the fermentations are in an anaerobic environment (whole bunches saturated in CO2 for finer aromas). No SO2 is used. Aged in old barrels. The wines are unfiltered and unfined.

In 2017, Jean-Michel Stéphan joins forces with his son Romain to create the Maison Stéphan and build his future.